State Superintendent of Public Schools Tom Horne announced on Wednesday that he contracted with a private company to fill law enforcement vacancies at schools in 11 Arizona counties. Horne said the new contract would ensure safety of students, teachers, and staff despite a “pervasive officer shortage” throughout the state.
The Arizona Department of Education (ADE) revealed a new contract with Off Duty Management (ODM), a private company, to schedule off-duty law enforcement to serve as School Safety Officers (SSOs).
These officers will undergo expedited training, and may serve a region outside their normal service area, unlike Student Resource Officers (SROs), which report to a school as part of their full-time job for law enforcement.
Earlier this year, Horne announced nearly $100 million to fund SROs for 301 schools across Arizona, but the issues with recruiting Horne highlighted means few vacant positions are being filled.
In a statement, Horne said the contract will solve “[t]he problem of finding officers to fill these funded school safety positions,” declaring it “vital” for schools to “have armed officers on campus to prevent a tragedy should a maniac try to shoot up a school.”
“Today, pending the approval of districts,” said Horne. “We can begin to fill those positions and bring as many as 138 School Safety Officers (SSO) to campuses in 11 Arizona counties because of our initiative to work with ODM, a company that specializes in finding off-duty officers and assigning them to campus safety duties.”
Because of the $100 million announced earlier this year, ADE added, the program will require no additional funding.
SSOs will receive eight hours of training from the ADE and “shall perform the same duties as an SRO” while on campus. The agency added that “it is expected that SSOs will be on campus for the entirety of their shift.”
In addition to ensuring public safety, SROs are required to teach children material related to law enforcement, help establish safety procedures and emergency response training for schools, and help prevent bullying among students, according to guidelines set by ADE.
Horne previously discouraged schools from hiring counselors or other support staff in place of having a police officer on site, and urged educators to apply for a grant to help fund SROs.
“Every school should have a law enforcement officer to protect students and staff, and this should be accomplished on an urgent basis,” said Horne, warning that recent threats to school safety justify the need for a police presence.
The Arizona Criminal Justice Commission’s 2022 Arizona Youth Survey revealed that children experienced violence in the state’s schools during the last school year. They reported that 10 percent of surveyed students attending grades 8 through 12 were assaulted or threatened with a knife, gun, or other weapon.
Some have rebuked Horne’s call for police on campuses, and Arizona’s Family reported the Phoenix Union District pulled its SRO program in 2020 amid student protests and petitions.
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Tom Pappert is a reporter for The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Tom on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Police Officer” by Arlington County. CC BY-SA 3.0.
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